Resisting the Far-Right

Explaining Divergent Countermobilization Trajectories in Two German Cities

Bibliographic Data

ID6209964
AuthorsLarissa Daria Meier, Larissa Meier (0009-0003-8382-2631, Larissa Daria Meier is Associate Researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. Jan Matti Dollbaum is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Fribourg. Priska Daphi is Professor of Conflict Sociology at Bielefeld University. Sebastian Haunss is Professor for Political Science at SOCIUM – Research Centre on Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen., corresponding author), Jan Matti Dollbaum (0000-0002-3399-6137, Larissa Daria Meier is Associate Researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. Jan Matti Dollbaum is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Fribourg. Priska Daphi is Professor of Conflict Sociology at Bielefeld University. Sebastian Haunss is Professor for Political Science at SOCIUM – Research Centre on Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen.), Priska Daphi (0000-0002-8216-1566, Larissa Daria Meier is Associate Researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. Jan Matti Dollbaum is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Fribourg. Priska Daphi is Professor of Conflict Sociology at Bielefeld University. Sebastian Haunss is Professor for Political Science at SOCIUM – Research Centre on Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen.), Sebastian Haun (0000-0002-4342-4837, Larissa Daria Meier is Associate Researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University. Jan Matti Dollbaum is Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Fribourg. Priska Daphi is Professor of Conflict Sociology at Bielefeld University. Sebastian Haunss is Professor for Political Science at SOCIUM – Research Centre on Inequality and Social Policy at the University of Bremen.)
Year2025
Volume30
Issue1
Pages13-32
Publication date2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMobilization An International Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1086-671X • E-ISSN: 1938-1514
PublisherMobilization Journal (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17813/1086-671x-30-1-13
OpenAlexW4408675894
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article explains the divergent trajectories of anti-far-right mobilization in two German cities: the campaign against the extreme-right movement Pegida in Dresden and its offshoot, Legida, in Leipzig. Drawing on a comparative case study, we argue that the interplay of three city-specific features—namely, activist coalitions, the city’s political identity, and elite support—account for the strength and cohesion of the countermobilization in Leipzig compared to Dresden. Our findings extend the growing literature on civil-society opposition to far-right actors by emphasizing the fundamental relevance of place for understanding variations in anti-far-right resistance. Local city contexts—understood as self-reinforcing combinations of mobilization structures and subjective understandings of contentious action—enable, constrain, and form the course of countermobilization campaigns

Archaeology · Economic geography · Far right · Geography · German · Political science · Politics · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · German legal, social, and political studies · History · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

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